If there are two things I know, they’re that a) time goes by too quickly and b) everyone loves a list. So with this in mind and with 2013 drawing to a close, we thought it would be a good time to reflect on the work that we’ve done in the Social Brain Centre here at the RSA. Below we offer you the top 10 “best of” the Social Brain blogs, in chronological order. Enjoy!
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In The Key to Eternal Happiness, Nathalie discusses the difficulty of sticking to goals and offers a way to reposition the want/should conflict (what I should do isn’t always what I want to do now) to understand how we can help ourselves to be both happy now and happy later.
Divided Brain, Divided World introduces a publication of the same name, which is a Q&A between Jonathan and Dr Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and His Emissary, and a series of reflections from other parties. McGilchrist’s work is the subject of one of our much-loved RSAAnimates.
In What older people want: Sex, Skydiving and Tattoos, our late colleague Emma announced the launch of a report in association with Hanover Housing Association, provides key findings, and offers some quotes illustrating the divergent views of ageing.
We argue in Two types of climate radicalism that to live with climate change we must either accept radical change or we must radically ignore or deny the concept. This foreshadowed the in-depth report, A new Agenda on Climate Change, published this week.
The post When was the last time you went on a Saving Spree? describes some innovative new tools to help people save more money and improve their personal finances.
We pay tribute to our late colleague, Emma Lindley, in Emma and In Memory of Dr Emma Lindley. She is sorely missed and remains in our thoughts and hearts.
Taking Spirituality Seriously talks us through the ‘so what?’, and ‘why bother?’ questions of Spirituality to introduce our current programme of work, including a series of workshops and public events.
We describe one way that behavioural science might be used in schools to help boost performance in Starting with an A, giving a taste of a forthcoming report which will be published in both English and German.
The Guardian’s sustainable business hub section features Jonathan’s Changing Behaviour: How Deep Do You Want to go?
Recently, again in anticipation of the climate change report, the Can we save the planet, keep the lights on, and avoid freezing to death? post explains the ‘energy trilemma’ and what it means for our strategies to mitigate climate change.
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Given all the blogs we’ve written this year, it was difficult to pare down the list. These are not necessarily the most-viewed posts, but together they give a glimpse into the range of projects we have been working on this year. Keep your eyes peeled for publication announcements in the near future.
Most importantly, thank you for all of your interest, (re)tweets, Facebook likes, and thoughtful comments throughout the year. We’re looking forward to continuing our blogging in 2014!
Many warm wishes for a happy holiday season to all of our readers,
From the Social Brain Centre
The RSA will be closed for the holidays from December 24rd 2013 to January 1st 2014, inclusive.